Given the backlash to their Budget last month, perhaps it is a quote Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves need to remind themselves of.
When people voted for change at the General Election, I don’t think this punishing, tax-hiking Budget is what they had in mind.
Having spent the last few weeks speaking with small business owners and visiting hospitality venues, the anger is palpable.
One measure in particular that they are angry about is Reeves’ eye-watering hikes to National Insurance contributions, paid for by employers.
Businesses in Glasgow are already on their knees as a result of the lack of support from the SNP over the last 17 years and that is keenly felt in our city centre elsewhere.
The failure to pass on much needed rates relief has harmed businesses north of the border, with their repeated pleas falling on deaf ears.
Now when times are already tough, Labour think what is best is to add even more costs to their day-to-day operations.
I have spoken to one well-known Glasgow-based company which has said the rise will cost it more than £1 million. Yet we wonder why economic growth is continuing to stall.
Glasgow businessman Donald MacLeod made his feelings clear in a weekend column. He says the Budget will choke investment and employment at a time when we desperately need both.
I couldn’t agree more when Donald said that no country has ever achieved growth by taxing businesses into submission. We need to support them, not suffocate them.
And Michael Bergson, of Buck’s Bar and Thundercat, added that employers are being punished for hiring staff and the inevitable outcome will be job losses, shuttered venues and a collapse in investment, saying it is scandalous.
Perhaps we should not be surprised. Socialists are always going to be socialist, and that means higher taxes on working people and businesses.
We have seen that philosophy in Scotland under the SNP and the Greens. Their values are a world away from those that support aspiration, ambition and economic growth.
There is an alternative to this cosy left-wing consensus at Holyrood that believes only higher taxes and more and more spending is the answer to our economic struggles.
After just a few weeks in the job, it is clear that Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay is challenging that mantra and outlining a more positive economic vision that is in tune with the values of mainstream Scotland.
Unlike the left-wing parties, we believe in delivering fairness and justice for taxpayers, and delivering best value for them.
That means delivering on the issues that really matter to them, rather than being wasteful with taxpayers’ money like the SNP have become known for over the last 17 years.
With the Scottish Budget coming up at the start of next month, there is an opportunity for the SNP to show they have listened and shift their approach away from high-tax and high-spend, but the signs are not good.
It’s just common sense to recognise what is not working. Scots can ill-afford this double whammy of governments squeezing them even more.
That’s why common-sense conservatism must prevail, for a change.
